Jasper Slingsby \(^1\)
\(^1\) Centre for Statistics in Ecology, the Environment and Conservation, Department of Biological Sciences, University of Cape Town | \(^2\) South African Environmental Observation Network, Fynbos Node
Most data products that inform global policy are developed in the Global North, but these are erroneous in places, largely due to lack of local knowledge…
Being “stakeholders” is not good enough. We need Africans holding the reigns.
www.globalforestwatch.org
We don’t want Africa left behind… again…
We just need the skills and resources to make the most of it!
And more than half of GBIF records are from South Africa (38,145,962 records).
Hopefully showing the value of our own data to our decision makers will improve this.
Aiming to build a community of practice to start building ecoforecasting capacity in Africa
Set up a Google form for sign-ups
Building a website (will be ecoforecast.africa)
Held our first meeting a few weeks ago to discuss and plan the way forward
Africa 21 (12 countries) | North America 11 | Europe 6 | Asia 4 | Many from or work in Africa
Great willingness to contribute skills!!! Especially from members of other EFIs
Much interest in research collaboration too!